Take-down attachment for precooling fans



April 1940. A. R. CARSTENSEN ET AL 2,193,931

TAKE-DOWN ATTACHMENT FOR PRECOOLING FANS Filed Sept. 22, 1939 2 12 9 f115 14 1s A 1 I I I V INVENTORS Y A.R. Carslensen E H. WDa vz's PatentedApr. 30, 1940 V UNITED. STATES PATENT o-F-FicE TAKE-DOWN ATTACHIVIENTFOR PRECOOLING FANS August R. Carstensen and Barry W.

Davis,

Sacramento, Calif., assignors to Crystal Ice and Cold Storage Company,Sacramento, Calif.

Application September 22, 1939, SerialNo. 296,092

8 Claims. (01. 62-24) This invention relates to the precooling ofrefrigeration cars by means of portable and removable electric fan unitssuch as that shown for instance in Patent No. 2,099,815, grantedNovember 23, 1937, to J. R. Lewis et al., as well as various others, andparticularly deals with a means for facilitating the removal of suchunits from the car after the precooling operation is completed.

The principal object of our invention is to provide such a means whichnot only avoids the necessity of crawling over the load to disengage andremove the fan units from their supported operative position adjacentthe ice bunkers of the car, but'enables such removal to be effectedvtional outline of a refrigerator car showing a precooling fan unit asmounted inoperative position and provided with our improved take-outequipment. s

, Figure 2 is a similar view showing the fan unit as being taken out.

Figure *3 is an end view of the fan unit, de-

tached.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawing, the fan unit used with our take-out equipment comprisesessentially a cylindrical housing containing the motor driven fan 2 andhaving at one'end a canvas hood 3 adapted to surround the top open-' ing4 of an ice bunker 5 of the refrigerator car 6 and to be tacked aboutsaid opening.

An eye! is mountedon and projects upwardly from the housing at a'pointin its length such that the weight of the unit is substantially balnallyextending relatively wide shoe or runner l0,

anced. When the fan unit is in operating position, this eye is engagedwith an L-shaped hook 8 which depends from and is permanently mounted inthe ceiling 9 of the car and facing away from the adjacent ice bunker.

' The housing is rigidly mounted on a longitudiand this shoe, ifdesired, may be provided with longitudinally spaced transverse rollers II underneath. J

A pull cable l2 is connected to the housing at the top, preferably attheeye 1 as shown in Fig. 3,

and extends through a ceiling mounted eye I 3 .-6

disposed'relatively close to but. ahead of hook 8. This cable'initiallyextends to the door end of the adjacent portion of the load L in the caras shown in Fig. 1.

Another pull cable l4 extends from a similar 10 point in the car to aconnection with the adjacent end of the shoe III, the portion of thecable adjacent the shoe being preferably branched as shown The fan unitis mounted in place before the car is loaded, the cable l2 beingthreaded through eye l3 after the unit is hung, and both. cables beingthen caught and held out of the way of loading operations.

When it is desired to take out the fan unit after pr'ecooling iscompleted, a runway or plank unit I6 (which may be sectional), is laidon the loaddirectly under the fan unit. The cable I3 is then pulledsufficiently to disengage the eye 1 from book 8, the hood 3 readilypulling loose from the bunker wall, since only light tacking isemployed. The fan unit then drops onto and becomes supported by therunway. If this drop is small, the shock is insufficient to cause anydamage either to the load or fan unit. If the load is shallow and thedrop consequently great, a grip on the cable is retained so that theweight of the unit may be supported by the portion of the cabledepending from the eye l3, and the cable is then payed out so as'tolower the unit gently onto the runway.

Once the unit is on the runway, the cable I 2 is released and the cableIt is pulled, drawing the unit toward the center of the car where it maybe picked up and removed through the 0 door. While the unit is thusmoving, the cable I2 runs out of itself from the eye I3, as indicated inFig. 2.

From the foregoing description itwill be readily seen thatwe haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

' While this specification sets forth in detail the presentand'preferred construction of the device, still in practice suchdeviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form adeparture from the-spirit of the invention, as defined by the appendedclaims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and useful anddesire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. Mounting and withdrawal means fora portable precooling fan' unit foruse in cooperative I association with an end ice bunker of arefrigerator car, said unit comprising a housing; said means comprisingan eye on top of the housing, a hook for engagement with the eye mountedon and depending from the ceiling of the car and facing away from thebunker, said hook being positioned so thatwhen the eye is engagedtherewith, the unit is in operative position relative to the bunker,means operable from adjacent the center or the car for pulling the eyeofi the'hook and a cable applied to the unit to then pull the sametoward the center of the car.

2. A device as in claim 1, with a runway to support the unit whenreleased from the hook and adapted to be placed on the load in the 90car and to extend from under the unit when suspended to adjacent the cardoor end of the load. v

=3. A device as in claim 1, with a runway to support theunit whenreleased from the hook l8 and adapted to be placed on the load in thecar and to extend from under the unit when sus-' pended to adjacent thecar door end of the load and rollers on the unit to ride on the runway'when the unit is lowered Irom engagement with 80 the hook.

4. Mounting and withdrawal means for a portable precooling fan unit foruse in cooperative association with an end ice bunker of a refrigeratorcar; said means comprising an eye on 35 top of the unit; a hook forengagement with the eye mounted on and depending from the ceiling of thecar and facing away from the bunker, said hook being positioned so thatwhen the eye is aged therewith, the unit is inoperative 40 positionrelative to the bunker, a cable engaging member mounted on and dependingfrom the 1 ceiling adjacent the hook but between said hook and thecenter of the car, a cable secured at one end on the top or the unit andextending 45 thence through the ceiling mounted eye to an initialtermination 'adjacent the center of the car and another cable applied tothe unit and also extending to an initial termination adjacent thecenter of the car.

5. Mounting and withdrawal means for a port- 'able precooling fan unitfor use in cooperative association with an end ice bunker of aretrieerator car; said means comprising an eye on top or the unit, ahook for engagement with the eye mounted on and depending from theceiling of the car and facing away from the bunker, said hook beingpositioned so that when the 8 eye is engaged therewith,'the unit ls'lnopera tive position relative to the bunker, a cable engag-, ing membermounted on and depending from the ceiling adjacent the hook but betweensaid hook and the center-of the car, a cable secured at one 10 end onthe top of the unit and extending thence through the ceiling mounted eyeto an initial termination adjacent the center of the car, a shoe rigidwith and extending lengthwise of and under the unit and another cableconnected to'the 15 end of the unit furthest from the bunker andextending to an initial termination adjacent the center of the car. 7 a

6. Mounting and withdrawal means for a portable precooling fan unit foruse in cooperative association with an end ice bunker of a refrigeratorcar; said'means comprising disengageable cooperating elements on theunit and the ceiling of the car to releasably support the unit suspendedfrom the ceiling in cooperative relation to the bunker, means operablefrom adjacent the center of the car to disengage the cooperatingelements and allow the unit to drop and means applied to the unit tothen pull the same toward the center of the car.

7. Mounting and withdrawal means for a portable precooling fan unit foruse in cooperative association with an end'lce bunker of a refrigeratorcar; said means comprising disengageable cooperating elements on theunit and the ceiling as of the car to releasably support the unitsuspended from the ceiling in cooperative relationto the bunker, meansoperable from adjacent the center of the car to disengage the cooperating elements and to then control the lowering.

